Why are Dutch and Scandinavians fluent in English but French are not?

English is taught in schools in the Netherlands from an early age (7 or 8 I think), and many Dutch people speak English well, though in some parts of the Eastern Netherlands, people are reluctant to speak it. French - a bit like the English-speaking world, they do it school, some learn it very well, others .... There is more reluctance among the French to use English than in many other countries. Germany - there is an increasing emphasis upon needing English for when kids grow up and go out into the business world.

It is widely understood in the West, less in the East as you point out for the reasons you give. Berlin may be an exception, but Berlin has also the lowest school grades of anywhere in Germany, so .... Scandinavia - I never yet met anyone from Norway, Sweden and Denmark who cannot speak English, often better than native speakers!

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.